Friday, December 9, 2011

Hans Haveron - an artful life

Earlier this year I sat down with Los Angeles artist Hans Haveron. The goal was to educate myself and subsequently my readers about the man and his art. What I learned was that this is someone who is deeply passionate, emotional and spiritual. He is dedicated to his craft and sees all of its results as a Thank You note to the Divine Spirits for blessing him with his talents, family and friends.

In our recent conversation, Hans reiterated all of this to me while sharing his latest endeavors and filling in some blanks since our talk back in May. Haveron is pretty relentless for a man who is so chill and laid back. Even in those rare moments that he disconnects and unwinds from day-to-day stress, he is still in an artistic state. Hans Haveron creates no art without purpose or message. From the body art that started with Lucent Dossier which has now progressed to gorgeous sugar skulls for a film feature in 2012 and alluring blue Shiva princesses for another potential film project to live painting exhibits, Haveron feels his way through each new project.

After taking a few days of downtime at his eighth trip to the Playa this summer for a "burn" that Hans described as mellow, he was back at it, working on pieces for his solo show at C.A.V.E. and doing live installments with John Park. If that wasn't enough Haveron jetted to Miami just a week before the gallery opening for Basel, touted as the most prestigious art show in the U.S.. Hans teamed up with Fish Tank, LLC to add his own style to the gondola midsection of the groups art car. He adorned one side with a mermaid and the other with his signature Telescope Goldfish to add to the fish/water theme of the car.

As for his live works with Park, we discussed some of what late-comers miss in the creation process. I had noticed in some of the time-lapse photo videos I've watched of these installments both Hans and John start out by sketching in Sharpie on the surface they will be painting. Although much of what is sketched doesn't get painted into the final piece, Hans explained that due to the markers' oil base, some of the sketches will bleed through the paint. I told him I saw that in the most recent project he had included the children that are the focal point of "Sepia's Secret". In this drawing one child holds a dagger pointed at an eye on the garment of the other. I asked if there was any significance, knowing that everything thing in Haveron's work has symbolism and meaning. Hans said that, again it is the inner child at the root of the creative process. The dagger symbolizes protection and the "All Seeing Eye" keeping spiritual watch.

The "Shiva" make-up was used in the filming of the Kickstarter information video for Elijah Sound's "Jesus Christ Superstar" remake project. Sound is a friend of Haveron's and owner of the 2013 Boutique in L.A. The Kickstarter is to fund a full-length trailer for the JCS project which portends to be a massive endeavor. The sugar skulls made their first appearance at Insomniac's "Escape From Wonderland-Life After Dusk" Halloween installment in San Bernardino. Hans says we will be seeing them again.

There was a great moment of spontaneity in our conversation when I mentioned my complete inability to draw even a decent stick figure. We followed one of my favorite arts tangents; "what art do you wish you could create in but pretty much suck at?" Hans said he wishes he were better at electronic music creation. He said that he has dabbled in it in the past and may not completely suck at it but just needs more time to work it out. He would love to take a stab at music production some day. For now though, drawing and painting consumes most of his time so he is fine with just listening to as much music as possible.

As posted previously, the "Black Diamond" one-man show will have its gala opening this evening in Venice, CA. Also mentioned in the promotion article, "Caducues" is the central piece of this show and Haveron is incredibly proud of it. Based on his enthusiasm explaining learning about the early history of the Caduceus symbol that was revealed in Sumerian tablets discovered in 1912, this painting is inspired on every level. Like myself, Hans is intrigued by the crossovers in most spiritual mythologies. The Sumerians depict tales of winged creatures that would be identified as angels in Judeo-Christian myth and a human creation story with similarities to those found in the Bible and Torah. It was not surprising that the Vatican and other religious leaders tried to squelch information regarding the tablets from being released to the public. Haveron's rendition of this messenger of the gods is stunning in her serenity. She is a woman of strength but with a countenance of peace and grace.

Hans Haveron has worked hard to get to this point and is not likely to take a moment off until the bitter end of the afterparty in the wee hours of Saturday morning. Even then, he might allow himself a little downtime but assuredly will be back at it again soon with new projects and revisiting some of his favorite arts haunts. It will be exciting to see what he comes up with next.